Clubs and Activities

At Woodberry, you can pursue a range of activities outside of the classroom. Along the way, you'll gain valuable leadership skills and build friendships you'll keep for the rest of your life. There are more than thirty clubs and plenty of activities for you to enjoy at the Forest. You can choose to travel abroad, explore your spirituality, reduce your carbon footprint, become a photographer, publish a newspaper, mentor others, take a leadership position, paint or sculpt, or enjoy the great outdoors. You'll find that you have endless opportunities to learn, to grow, and to change your life forever.

WHAT IS THERE TO DO ON THE WEEKEND?

Woodberry is packed with activities on and off campus on the weekends. Here are a few that our current students enjoy:

ACADEMIC

Drone Club

Drone Club gathers enthusiasts to build and remotely pilot quadcopters.

Investment Club

Investment Club instills an understanding of free market capitalism and the importance of international trade. Members are assigned to study different sectors of the US equity market and present proposed buying and selling opportunities for our $50,000 portfolio.

Math League

Math League challenges Woodberry’s best math students with problem-solving tests. The Mathematics League is an international organization dedicated to building student interest and confidence in mathematics through solving worthwhile problems. Woodberry “mathletes” compete against other Virginia schools by taking a series of six-problem tests.

Model United Nations

Students prepare to compete in Model UN conferences by researching international issues and learning diplomatic skills. At conferences they work together to solve the world’s biggest problems, building valuable skills in public speaking, critical thinking, and more. During competitions, each boy acts as a delegate from a nation he's studied, representing that country's interests and political positions.

Robotics Club

Robotics Club participants cooperate to create a game-playing robot capable of performing a challenge issued by FIRST Robotics Competition. They test their robot’s skills against other teams in regional competition while celebrating values of collaboration, inventiveness, creativity, and teamwork.

Science Olympiad

Science Olympiad brings a team of students together to prepare for the competition’s events in various scientific areas and skills. The team travels to compete in regional tournaments, often bringing home medals.

Speech and Debate

The Speech and Debate Team travels to local and national tournaments for debate matches, speech contests, and competitive acting events. The team builds your speaking, leadership, and social skills to prepare you for independence. Our team is ranked in the top ten in Virginia.

Young Republicans, Young Democrats, and Young Libertarians

Young Republicans, Young Democrats, and Young Libertarians provide forums for discussing current events in the political world, news from the major political parties, and bills before Congress.

ADMISSION

Admission Ambassadors

Admission Ambassadors share Woodberry with prospective students and their families by leading campus tours. Because they have the unique ability to share a student’s perspective with interested future Tigers, Admission Ambassadors are a valuable part of the school’s admissions team’s efforts to bring motivated boys to Woodberry.

Admission Hosting

Admission Hosting matches current students with prospective students as they spend the night on dorm and shadow their hosts during an academic day. Most underformers serve as hosts during Invite Back Weekend each spring.

ART AND MUSIC

LemonTree Film Club

LemonTree Film Club sponsors photographic and film projects, contests, exhibitions, and instructional sessions. Interested students use equipment that ranges from phone cameras to digital single-lens reflex cameras or DSLRs. Films can be submitted for publication in the Claws and Teeth Film Collection.

Student Bands

Plenty of students form their own bands at Woodberry. You and your friends can play at regular open-mic nights organized by the Coffeehouse Club. Student groups also play at the spring barbecue. The practice rooms in the Walker Fine Arts Center are always open for students to use.

Dance Club/Dance Marathon

Swing Dance Club gives boys a Friday evening dance break. Girls from the nearby area join quick-stepping boys for instruction and practice in the lively art of swing dancing — the favorite style for our semiformal and formal dances.

COMMUNITY SERVICE

Boy Scouts

Boy Scouts can register jointly with their home troops and Woodberry’s Troop 100 so they can continue their Eagle Scout work while at the Forest. Woodberry Forest has long been associated with scouting, and many students are awarded their Eagle Scout rank during their time at Woodberry.

Boys and Girls Club

Boys and Girls Club volunteers mentor students after school in nearby Orange. They play games, offer homework help, and serve as role models for elementary and middle school students.

Student Conservation Committee

Vegetable Gardening Initiative

Vegetable Gardening Initiative sows seeds in the greenhouses of the Manning Family Science Building and plants them in its garden. The radishes, spinach, tomatoes, peppers, and herbs they grow appear on the salad bar in Terry Dining Hall and on the dinner plates of many community members.

GAMES

Chess Club

Chess Club brings everyone from novices to competitive players together each week for friendly play and lessons in classic moves.

Paintball Club

Paintball Club encourages all boys to form teams and join its weekend battles at Woodberry’s own outdoor paintball facility. There’s no better — or more fun — way to test strategy, teamwork, and marksmanship.

Rubik's Cube Club

WFS Rubik's Cube Club (WFSRCC) is organized by cube lovers at Woodberry. Meetings include beginner lessons, cubing challenges, and special workshops. The club holds a mini competition each meeting and awards prizes. Each spring it hosts an official Rubik's Cube Club at Woodberry.

LEADERSHIP

Peer Leadership Council

Peer Leaders are selected through a competitive interview process and help guide New Boys through life at Woodberry. The council meets regular to plan its sessions with new students, which are held each week. Every peer leader works with five or six new students and is charged with helping them make a successful transition to Woodberry.

OUTDOOR

Fly-Fishing Club

Fly-Fishing Club teaches and promotes the art of fly-fishing. Boys hone their casting skills at the campus’s thirteen-acre Robertson Lake and take trips to fishing locales nestled in the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains.

Outdoors Club

Outdoors Club offers weekend hiking, climbing, and kayaking treks into wilderness areas around the region. Woodberry’s location close to the Shenandoah National Park offers rich opportunities for backpacking and camping.

Rod and Gun Club

Rod and Gun Club is one of Woodberry’s most popular clubs. Boys store their guns securely in Woodberry’s safe and enjoy supervised hunting opportunities. They enjoy waterfowl hunting from their blind on Robertson Lake and fishing in the Rapidan River and on the school’s ponds and lake. The club offers a weekend duck-hunting excursion each winter and organizes a wild game tasting and skeet-shooting event each spring for all members of the community.

Ropes Course Instructors

Ropes Course Instructors lead students in ropes course days to encourage leadership and bonding within each form. Instructors are chosen through a rigorous selection process. They receive training to facilitate and lead students and community members in low-ropes activities and high-ropes challenges. Under the leadership of these able instructors, every student participates in ropes course days at the school’s outdoor education center — featuring the Alpine Tower, Carolina Climbing Wall, and low-ropes facilities — during his time at Woodberry.

PUBLICATIONS

Fir Tree Yearbook

The Fir Tree yearbook is one of Woodberry’s oldest student publications and longest standing Woodberry traditions. Students take photographs, write articles, edit submissions, and design layouts to document the year’s memories in an attractive annual.

The Talon

The Talon is a literary arts magazine published twice a year. Review boards select submissions of art, photography, poetry, fiction, and nonfiction from the school community, and editors design and publish work in an award-winning magazine.

Woodberry Forest School Production Network

WFSPN broadcasts live coverage of athletic, arts, and academic events. The student-run channel brings together on-air personalities with behind-the-scenes crews to cover a variety of school events via the internet.

SOCIAL

Caucus

Caucus is an affinity group for students of color. Minority students meet to support one another and enjoy guest speakers and off-campus trips.

GSA Discussions

GSA Discussions is a gay-straight alliance for students who question their sexual orientation or who identify as LGBT or as an LGBT ally. The group meets regularly for discussion, support, and socializing.

International Forum

International Forum invites Woodberry’s international students, along with others interested in learning more about global cultures, to meetings where they discuss current affairs, enjoy international cuisine, or hear from guest speakers. The group also takes off-campus trips to cultural events, ethnic restaurants, and movies.

SPIRITUAL

St. Andrew’s Chapel

St. Andrew’s Chapel offers boys the opportunity to serve as acolytes, ushers, and readers at weekly Monday evening worship services.

Woodberry Christian Fellowship

Woodberry Christian Fellowship welcomes every student to its popular Tuesday evening gatherings at a faculty home. Guest speakers from FOCUS (Fellowship of Christians in Universities and Schools) facilitate Bible study, praise, and prayer. Meetings always include pizza, games, and fellowship.

Woodberry Forest admits students of any race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, and national or ethnic origin to all of the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, or national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic or other school-administered programs. The school is authorized under federal law to enroll nonimmigrant students.